Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General > History of religion
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Introduction to the History of Religions (Hardcover)
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Discovery Miles 20 390
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Introduction to the History of Religions (Hardcover)
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Excerpt: ...whistling). Or ordinary human actions might be
imitated: a stick thrown or pointed toward an enemy, it was 395
believed, would cause a spear to enter his body; 1538 a hostile
glance of the eye, indicating desire to inflict injury, might carry
ill luck. 1539 In such cases the fundamental conceptions are the
sympathy that comes from unity and the activity of the pervasive
mana. These conceptions are visible in procedures in which action
on a part of the human body, or on an image or picture of it, was
supposed to reach the body itself. The possession of a piece of the
bone, skin, hair, or nail of a man might enable one who had
knowledge of superhuman laws and processes to affect the man with
sickness or even to cause his death. Contact of objects naturally
suggests their unity, but the sympathy between them was not held to
be dependent on contact; a man's bone remained a part of him,
however far it might be separated from him. A dead body did not
lose its virtues; the qualities of a dead warrior might be acquired
by eating his flesh. The mysterious unity of things seems to have
resided, in savage thought, in the omnipresent mana, a force
independent of human limitations. Not that there was a definite
theory on the subject, but something of this sort seems to be
assumed in the ideas and usages of many low tribes. 1540 On the
other hand, a magical effect may be set aside by magic. A sick man,
believing his sickness to be the work of a magician (the usual
savage theory of the cause of bodily ills), sends for another
magician to counteract the evil work; and a magician, failing to
cure his patient, ascribes his failure to the machinations of a
powerful rival. In all such cases the theory and the methods are
the same; the magic that cures is not different in principle
(though it may differ in details) from the magic that kills. 887 .
The facts observed by practicers of magic probably contributed to
the collections of material that furnished the...
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